Konoha's Wind
by MisterScarlet
Summary: In an alternate future where Pein was killed before he could revive the entire village, Naruto has risen to the position of Rokudaime Hokage and is one of the strongest shinobi in history. Akatsuki, ruled by a mysterious new leader, is moving forward in their plans. But Naruto has his own problems too, one of which is the large demon in his gut. AU; TimeTravel; NaruxTema; NaruxIno;


Summary: In an alternate future where Pein was killed before he could revive the entire village, Naruto has risen to the position of Rokudaime Hokage and is one of the strongest shinobi in history. Akatsuki, ruled by a mysterious new leader, has taken out all of the other hidden villages and Konoha is the last bastion of the Shinobi Alliance. Naruto and Konoha face their last battle, and the whole time the only thing the blonde Hokage can think of is what could have been different...

* * *

**Konoha's Wind**

**by: Mister Scarlet**

Chapter 1: The End

(Prologue - Part 1)

* * *

_The raven-haired boy—no, man continued to walk away from him. He couldn't see his face but he knew that the man's expression was void of any emotion. A pink-haired kunoichi walked at the man's side, clinging to one of his arms._

_He watched in silent agony as they got farther and farther away, slowly vanishing into eternal darkness, never looking back at the broken shell of a sixteen year old they were leaving behind._

"Naruto...," the voice was a whisper that faded away as soon as he heard it.

**_-scene change-_**

_He appeared in the middle of the demolished village in a large shroud of smoke. A group of large summoned toads surrounded him strategically in battle ready stances._

_Gone was the old smiling facade that he used to wear. It had been cracked and weakened when his team left him, but when the news of Ero-sennin's death reached him it had shattered completely and fell away, leaving only the face of a road wearied and jaded youth._

_Now he was a serious shinobi, dedicating the last few months to furthering his skills as much as humanly possible. Learning the sage mode was a new ability he was proud to say he had mastered in as little as three months._

_He scanned his environment, expecting to see the familiar sights of his home. What met him was a desolate crater. The village had been completely obliterated in the short time it took for him to receive Konoha's distress call and respond._

_When a little more of the dust settled he was able to see six people in Akatsuki cloaks standing a little ways in front of him. All of them possessed orange hair and black piercings throughout their bodies._

_He knew exactly who they were, or rather, who_ he_ was._

_Pein, the murderer of his godfather._

_Pein had destroyed his village, killed his friends, but worst of all... Pein had killed the closest thing to a father he ever had._

_Pein would pay. He would_ make_ him pay._

_Anger flooded his senses and the Kyuubi's toxic chakra responded, enshrouding him in a fiery red cloak and mixing in with his sage mode expertly. The orange highlights around his eyes changed from a light orange to a blood red. His pupils turned into slitted crosses and his canines peeked out from under his upper lip._

_They fought..._

_He slaughtered..._

_The paths went first, his anger overpowering any resistance they may have put up. He moved on, finding the creator and his partner hidden in an old tree deep in the Fire Country's Forest._

_They both perished within the flames of the Kyuubi's raging chakra._

_He made his way back to the village as the blood lust and anger slowly faded, taking with it the demonic chakra, but only to be replaced by a severe sadness that had tears forming at the corners of his eyes._

_Exiting the surrounding forest he found himself standing on top of the Hokage Monument, looking down upon the remains of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, just taking it all in._

_Even though he killed the ones who caused this disaster, the pain of returning to his own destroyed home village wasn't lessened in the slightest._

_The destruction and death filled his mind and burned into his memory, never to be forgotten even in his wildest nightmares. The dead faces of loved ones flashed before his eyes._

_Kakashi with blood running from his Sharingan. Hinata lying on her back at Pein's feet, her lifeless Byakugan staring up at him. Choji's body hanging limply among the debris of a ruined building. Team 9 and the rest of Team 8 all lying dead together on the path leading to the Hokage tower, clearly having taken a last stand against Pein but paying the ultimate price in the process._

_Finding out that only a few of the Konoha Twelve and their sensei survived the attack was too much for him to take. So much had been taken from him already that he hadn't even thought about the possibility of any more of his loved ones dying._

_Feeling the depression and desperation pushing on his already exhausted emotions he fell to his knees and roared at the sky from his position on the monument._

_He wept for the loss of what little remained of his innocence._

"Naruto..." the whisper repeated itself, but still fell upon deaf ears.

**_-scene change-_**

_He stood atop of the battlements of Konoha's main gate, arms crossed and mouth set in a firm line. The hilt of a katana was visible from over his right shoulder._

_Iwa shinobi were spread out below him in strict lines, their Tsuchikage at their front, waving the white flag of negotiations._

_He watched as his own commander walked out to meet her counterpart from Iwa. As the two respective leaders spoke it became clear that the Tsuchikage was becoming irate._

_His own commander spun abruptly and started to walk away, apparently their conversation was over, but the enraged Kage behind her obviously didn't take it very well. The large man sped through hand seals before slamming his hands into the earth and crying out the name of his jutsu._

_Immediately a stone cage rose up from the ground and trapped a surprised Godaime inside._

_He continued to remain still on the battlements, only slightly worried about his leader as she was a perfectly capable Kage level ninja and should have been able to smash the cage to bits with her superhuman strength... except she couldn't._

_He froze up as she tried over and over again to break herself out of the cage, only producing a light vibration of the earthen bars for all of her efforts._

_His eyes widened and his body began to move. Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage and his predominant mother figure, was in serious trouble._

_He leaped off of the of the high wall, bracing his legs with chakra as he impacted the ground at speed. He barely paused before he shot off from his landing spot, determined to reach one of his last remaining precious people before something bad happened._

_He watched in horror as Iwa shinobi surrounded her prison and began going through hand seals in unison. He pumped chakra to his legs, wanting-no—_needing_ to go faster. He felt himself gain a small amount of speed even as the pain of breaking blood vessels in his legs assaulted his senses. He pushed past the pain and kept running._

_The foreign ninja finished their hand seals and pressed their hands to the rock cage._

_Time seemed to slow._

_His mind registered the fact that spikes had begun to extrude from the insides of the cage, all of them heading towards Tsunade, how she seemed to just be standing inside of said cage, arms lowered to her sides and her eyes watching him with sympathy as he continued to try and reach her._

_He knew, somewhere deep down, that he wouldn't make it to her in time. That even the fastest ANBU their village possessed wouldn't be able to cross the last hundred feet that separated them in time to save her. He forcefully pushed his doubts away, clenching his jaw as he redoubled his efforts._

_Time sped back up._

_He became a blur to the naked eye, causing many of the Konoha shinobi—who still hadn't moved from their own positions on the battlements—to gasp when all they could distinguish was a yellow blur of motion crossing the last one hundred feet and killing all of the Iwa nin that were positioned around the cage in a single moment._

_He didn't spare his kills a glance as he spun to see what had become of his last remaining mentor._

_The fact that he hadn't made it in time was the first thing to cross his mind. Tsunade's body, impaled through the chest, legs, and arms by stone spikes, was the second._

_She was looking at him._

_Their eyes met, his showing an agony that would kill a lesser man, hers only showing acceptance._

_Acceptance and love._

_Love... for him._

_Her smile was slight and sympathetic, telling him that it wasn't his fault._

_Her head gently fell forward and her body went limp, signaling the last bit of life leaving her body._

_Tears swelled in his eyes and spilled over, carving wet trails through the angles of his face and mixing with the flecks of blood from the ones he had killed. His lips trembled and he wanted to scream but forced his jaw to stay shut, as the bloody tears continued to fall._

_An anger that was even greater than when facing Pein consumed him._

_They killed her..._

_All of his efforts to improve himself..._

_They were all meaningless when confronted with her death. Everything he had done... it wasn't enough..._

_The woman who was a mother in all but blood...they killed her!_

_His skin literally exploded from his body, being replaced within nanoseconds by a mixture of blood and raging red and black chakra. Six tails shot out from his lower back along with half of his skeletal structure which proceeded to cover him like a perverse imitation of a protective fox-shaped exoskeleton. His eyes glowed red. He roared and all ninja within a hundred mile radius froze in their tracks, most falling to their knees with the amount of killer intent saturating the air._

_The last things he heard before giving full control over to his own inner demon were the screams of more Iwa shinobi._

_The screams of shinobi from the village that killed his baa-chan..._

_He smiled, and the darkness overtook him._

"Naruto..." the whisper was soothing, a balm on his ears, but who was calling him?

_-scene change-_

_He was taking a midnight stroll through the village, just passing the main gate when a bloodied Suna kunoichi stumbled through and latched onto his collar._

_She clung to him, saying that Suna had been attacked, the Kazekage went down fighting..._

_...that the Akatsuki had finally reemerged with a new leader and allied themselves with the broken remains of Iwa's shinobi forces._

_He held her, cradled her shaking frame and absorbed the information as best he could._

_Their allies in Suna were gone. It was hard to take in. What was harder was the fact that someone he called a brother went down with it. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. He wasn't going to cry...he couldn't._

_So many people he cared about had died. He just didn't have any tears left to give. Besides, he had to be there for the young woman who was now sobbing into his jacket, he had to be her rock and couldn't show any weakness until she was done mourning._

_He opened his eyes a few seconds later to find the kunoichi looking up at him, her eyes a pearly silver in color, but they were even more beautiful when the stars reflected on them from over his shoulder._

_A look of shock crossed her features as she finally realized who she had been clinging too._

"Naru-..."

**o0xKWx0o**

"Naruto!"

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto shot up from his bed only to be sent right back down with a painful cry as his head collided with something hard. "Ow, what the hell?" he asked holding his forehead and staying down on his pillow so he wouldn't hit whatever it was again.

"That's what I should be saying," said a female voice from close by. Through the familiar and melodious tones he could detect an undercurrent of annoyance, "Kami your head is hard Naru-kun."

He opened his eyes slowly and blinked away the blurriness that came with waking up. The image of a lovely woman slowly came swimming into his vision. His eyes went wide when he finally realized what exactly he had hit.

"I'm so sorry Tema-hime!" he said, quickly sitting up and moving across the bed to check if she was alright.

"Don't worry, Naruto, I've taken harder hits than this before," the now identified Temari told him as she pushed his probing hands away from her face... only for them to try and come back to prod her forehead. She playfully smacked his hands away, "Honestly Naruto, I'm fine. You worry more than Kurenai-chan does about little Asuma-kun."

Naruto grinned sheepishly, pulling his hands away from his wife and rubbing the back of his neck. "You're sure?" he asked giving her a look over to check for any other injuries.

And even though he was only checking for injuries he couldn't help but to admire the figure before him. His wife was clearly in the prime of her life.

Over the years she had grown into an extremely capable kunoichi that would have easily rivaled the late Senju Tsunade. But not only was she a strong kunoichi, she was also extremely beautiful.

Her blonde hair was a few shades paler than Naruto's own, she kept the bangs much like how they looked when she was a little younger but the back was now grown out and left flowing to her mid back. She wore a white silk nightgown that clung to her full curves—which he seemed to examine quite closely in her opinion.

"What I'm more worried about is you though, that must have been a horrible nightmare if it caused you to yell and thrash around so much."

Naruto tore his eyes away from Temari's enticing body and looked up to her own. They were still the same pearl gray that they were the night they met, and it was those same eyes that were showing an immediate concern for him.

He ducked his head in a mixture of embarrassment and anger at himself for showing such weakness.

It wasn't that he was particularly embarrassed that she cared for him. No, quite the contrary actually. It was just that he didn't want to talk about the memories of his past, he had suppressed them for a reason. It was bad enough that they continually rose up from his subconscious while he slept.

"Naruto-kun, you need to talk about it. These nightmares are getting worse the longer you keep them suppressed. Ino-chan says so too, and you know she's the best mind healer in the village," the former Suna ninja scolded her hardheaded husband, laying a hand on his upper arm and rubbing it gently.

"Look, Tema-chan, I just don't want to talk about it," Naruto said gently but succinctly. He had kept it all bottled up so long, there just didn't appear to be a point in letting it all out.

Temari would have none of it and gently guided his chin up so that she could face him but Naruto still would not meet her eyes. "Do you remember what you did for me when I first got here? Do you remember how I was?" she asked, obviously trying to make a point.

Oh he remembered alright. He remembered that Temari had been that bloodied Suna kunoichi that stumbled through the front gate three years ago. He remembered that she was the last survivor from Sunagakure and that she had just lost both of her brothers to the joint assault of Iwa and Akatsuki. He remembered the depression that she had fallen into and couldn't get out of alone. He remembered being there for her, letting her cry on his shoulder and beat on his chest at the unfairness of it all. He remembered how his own feelings developed as he got to know her more and more, while she slowly began to get back to her old self.

And he remembered when she finally decided to join Konoha as a kunoichi and how happy it made him, so happy in fact that he had asked her out right after she put on her leaf headband.

"I remember." He took a deep calming breath. "It was just a dream Tema-hime."

"So is that why you're covered in sweat then? Does a normal dream really force me to wake you up because your screaming and thrashing around? Hm? Look Naruto-kun, just talk about it with me, I want to know what you've gone through. And besides, I thought we agreed not to keep secrets." she said, putting him on a guilt trip with the last comment.

She was going to get this over with now.

She loved him so much, he was the sweetest most romantic man she knew and he had saved her when she was at her lowest. She would do whatever it took to return the favor. Granted, she knew that he had one of the most traumatic lives of anyone she had ever known, and that getting him to open up was going to be harder than making a Nara stop being lazy, but damn it all if she wasn't going to try. He was her husband for Kami's sake!

"Fine," he huffed, giving in. He glanced up into her eyes but couldn't hold her gaze. He threw his legs over the edge of the bed and pushed himself up, making the damp and crumpled sheets peel away from his lithe frame.

"It_ was_ a nightmare," he began, walking slowly to the balcony of the rather large main bedroom of the Namikaze clan mansion.

Temari didn't prompt him for more just yet, not wanting him to use the interruption as a way to dodge out of explaining the rest. Instead, she sat quietly, waiting for him to continue. She watched him open the doors to the balcony and step outside, causing him to be bathed in moonlight. He opened his arms, as if letting the slight summer breeze embrace his naked torso.

The well muscled twenty-one year old took in a deep steady breath, letting it go as his shoulders slumped and he leaned forward onto the balcony's railing.

"Sasuke was in it," Temari's raised an eyebrow at the traitors name. "Sakura too," the other eyebrow went up. "It was when they both left me. I had just gotten back from my training trip and me, Sakura, and Kakashi-sensei got word about the location of one of Orochimaru's hideouts. We went for it, intending to bring Sasuke back with us, only..." he paused, obviously having a hard time with something.

"I wasn't strong enough," it came out as a whisper but the former Sand nin heard it in the otherwise silent room. Her heart went out to him.

"I wasn't strong enough," he repeated more clearly, more for his sake than hers, his voice gaining a steely edge that usually meant he was angry with something.

_'Probably angry at himself',_ thought Temari. She could feel the tears start poking at the corners of her eyes. It was torture having to hear Naruto lay bare the troubles of his heart and watch all of his reactions to his horrible past—but he needed this, and she would hear it through to the end.

"Sasuke wiped the floor with me, and Kakashi wasn't much of a match for Orochimaru. We were easily beaten, everyone except for Sakura. She-she betrayed us. Leaving with Sasuke, the love of her life, even if he didn't give a rat's ass for her. In the dream...they're walking away from me," his fists clenched around the guard rail of the balcony making it creak in protest. "They just keep walking, never looking back. It was the beginning of the worst chapter of my life," he confessed. "Then, when I had heard that Jiraiya was killed by Pein a little while later I decided to end my idiotic play-acting as the orange wearing dead-last of the village," he looked up at the stars, trying not to lose himself in his grief over the loss of his role-model, sensei, and father-figure.

He didn't think that opening up would be this hard, but he could tell that by talking about it he was able to dismiss part of the anguish the nightmare had caused him. It definitely helped that Temari was there, however silent, to share with. It was like he was splitting the weight of a huge burden with her and as he continued to speak the weight was just that much more bearable. So with Temari, his most precious person, still sitting on the bed behind him and quietly listening to his story, he continued.

"I threw myself into training after that. I didn't eat or sleep, just bled and trained. I was such a mess until the toads of Myobokuzan took me in and taught me the sage mode after Jiraiya died.

"Then it switched over to the Pein battle and we all know how that went," Naruto felt rather than saw Temari slide off of the bed and start walking towards him. "What I don't think anyone knows is that Nagato and Konan were the first people I had ever killed. Can you believe that?" he asked with a tone of incredulity since he didn't believe it himself. "In the four years I had been a ninja, I had never killed anyone before then. I still wonder if I did the right thing. But I was just so angry that all I wanted was for him to die. He killed everyone," he turned to face Temari, guilt and self-loathing showing through his cerulean depths, "why shouldn't I have killed him?" he finished, shoulders slumping.

"You did the right thing Naruto," she told him, embracing him in a warm hug. "You can't know what could have happened since you can't go back and change the past. For all you know he could have finished the job and killed off the rest of us if you hadn't killed them. No one blames you for anything Naru-kun, they see you as their savior, the 'God of Wind' that watches over the village," she said with a smile, phrasing the last part as a playful joke on what the villager's called him and how he was listed in all of the Bingo books.

He relaxed into her hug, gently wrapping his own arms around her and resting his chin on top of her head.

"Heh, honestly, I know that I'm good with Fuuton jutsus, but to start calling me 'The God of Wind' is a little much, don't you think?" he asked deepening the embrace they were in.

Temari scoffed, "Good? You only call yourself_ good_ with Fuuton?" The Suna princess looked up at him and shook her head in exasperation. "Naruto, while modesty_ is_ your strong suit, your selling yourself short. You are easily the best in the entire_ world_ with wind techniques, take it from the Wind Mistress herself." She smiled up at him, letting out a laugh when she felt his chakra start to manipulate air currents around them, creating a small breeze. "And that little display just proves it."

"You say that like you have already confirmed it with the rest of the world."

"And what makes you think I haven't? Besides I'm always right."

Naruto chuckled into her hair accompanying it with a slight squeeze in thanks. "You're too good for me Mari-chan."

Temari was thankful that her face was hidden in his chest as she could feel the blood rush to her face. She could deal with 'Tema-chan' or 'Tema-hime' just fine but 'Mari-chan' made her blush every single time. Only the whisker marked fool and her own mother had ever called her that and it was something special to her.

"Whatever whiskers," she countered, using her own pet name for him. "Let's go back to bed shall we?" she asked as she started to lead him back inside, away from the chilly outdoors of the balcony.

"There's more," he said, breaking the comfortable and loving mood that had sprouted between them. "I watched baa-chan die again."

Temari looked up at him, treading lightly she said, "Naruto... you don't have too—you've never told anyone about that day, if it's too painful just let it b-"

"It's okay hime," Naruto interrupted her. "I need to talk about it, you were right. I've never talked about any of this before and you need to know, and since I doubt that any current shinobi would be brave enough to speak about it, I'm the only one who can tell you."

"Why can't anyone else tell me?"

"Because they're all scared of me. What I did that day was something horrible... I let the Kyuubi completely take over for the second time in my life, only this time my dad wasn't there to remake the seal. I still can't believe I didn't kill any of my allies before I decided to take back control." Naruto paused and Temari could tell he was reliving it even as he spoke. "But that's not to say I didn't kill anyone, because I killed them all Tema-chan. Every last one was ripped apart when I went crazy. The Tsuchikage himself didn't faze me, I just walked right through him. I destroyed every enemy that was put before me like they were absolutely nothing. You know why they attacked us originally right?" he asked, not sure if she knew the whole story or not.

Temari looked thoughtful, "All I know is that Iwa thought they could attack Konoha and win since the village had lost so many ninja during the Pein attack, but before they launched their assault on the village directly the Tsuchikage requested a peace negotiations be held between him and the Godaime. Then during the negotiations the Tsuchikage killed Tsunade-sama when she had her back turned."

Naruto nodded, he pulled Temari with him to the bed and sat down. She slowly settled into his lap, making sure she was paying attention to his recounting. "While_ partly_ true that's not the real story, only what we wanted people to know. You see, during the Pein attack I met my father,"

Temari nodded already knowing this part of the story. She leaned back, making herself comfortable against his chest, the back of her head resting lightly on his shoulder.

"After the attack the secret of my heritage wasn't much of a secret anymore. I think Tsunade allowed people to talk about it as a way to lessen most people's hatred of me and to give them something to gossip about instead of mulling over Pein's massacre. The problem came when Iwa found out about my heritage through one of their spies. The Tsuchikage was furious that their greatest enemy had hidden a son away from him. He thought it only fair that they were given the son of the Yellow Flash as recompense for his destruction of their ninja forces during the Third War."

Temari's gasp told him that she understood the situation.

"Yeah," Naruto sighed, "they wanted Tsunade to hand me over so that they could hold my public execution and right the wrongs of the past. Tsunade of course, said no. So in return Iwa marched on Konoha. Once they got here, the Tsuchikage held a final negotiations with Tsunade outside of our front gate in order to give her a last chance to hand me over. Once again she declined, but when she did the bastard went against every rule of peace talks, and decided to kill her right then and there. I tried my best to get to her before anything bad could happen but I wasn't strong enough..._again_. After that, I lost it, without any regards to what might happen, I_ happily_ gave the fox control of my body. I don't have any memories of what I did during that short period of time, but when I fought back control of my body by using a reverse sealing process, all that was left were body parts laying in pools of blood.

"No one wanted to tell me what the fuzzball did with my body, but it must have been something absolutely horrific since the whole village thinks of it as an S-rank secret even though no one declared it as such." Naruto gave a sardonic grin at the thought of his own ninja almost pissing themselves when they thought about what he did that day, before it slid off of his face when he realized what he was going to say next.

"It was my fault Temari. My fault that she died. She died for me..._because_ of me. She died because I merely existed as the son of Namikaze Minato, the fucking Yondaime Hokage and the fucking Yellow Flash of Kon-"

_Smack_

The sound of the sand princess's hand colliding with his face rang through the room, effectively silencing his rant of self hatred. He hadn't even noticed her move before his face was pushed to the side. It didn't hurt but the action in itself had halted his rant mid-sentence.

"How could you say that," Temari asked, desperately holding back tears. She brought the same hand that slapped him back to his cheek. "You are a great person Naruto. The kindest I have ever met. You did nothing to deserve what has happened to you but the fact is that it already happened. There's nothing left to do but accept it. Stop blaming yourself for something out of your control. It was no ones fault except the ones who killed her. They had the_ choice_ not to but they did anyway. Can't you see that your hurting those around you by thinking this way?"

Naruto looked upon his now crying wife's face. His heart plummeted when he realized that he was the one who did this to her. It was him and him alone that had reduced her to tears, him and his shouldering of the blame. He rubbed her tears away with the thumb of his right hand, his left coming to grasp the hand that was resting on his cheek.

"Suppose I deserved it huh?"

"Damn right you did."

Naruto slowly came to the realization that he felt better than he had in a long time. Except for the slight pain that was only now starting to form from the blond kunoichi's slap.

"I don't know what I would do without you Mari-chan," he said sincerely.

"Die, probably," she said lamely, still wiping away her own tears.

"Likely," he returned in a serious voice, though there was a smile playing on the corners of his mouth. "Come on, lets go back to bed, there's still a few hours till we have to get up and we only have one night left till the big day after all."

They both settled themselves and crawled back into bed. Naruto holding his wife close to him as they closed their eyes.

"I love you Mari-chan."

She smiled, "Shut up whiskers, I love you too."

**o0xKWx0o**

"Dammit! Why can't I ever beat you?" An irate Naruto flopped backwards on top of the Yondaime's head where he and his ANBU Commander were playing a game of shogi.

"Is that really a question?" the man sitting across the board replied, ignoring his superior's drama and looking lazily up at the clouds.

The Commander was dressed all in black. Seriously,_ all._ Black gloves, pants, boots, mesh shirt, chunin vest, and full body cloak that was currently spread out behind him as he sat in a lotus position. Hell, even his mask was all black instead of having any sort of traditional animal depiction. There were no biologically identifying features visible, all of his skin was covered and he kept the hood of his cloak over his hair. He made for an intimidating figure, the very image of an other worldly specter that inspired fear wherever he went. All in all he looked just like an imposing ruler of an elite ninja force, whose specialization was in stealth and assassination, should.

Naruto, who was currently laying on his back and also taking a silent moment to contemplate the clouds, was dressed in clothing that fit his own personal tastes the best, not to mention they were designed to fit his fighting styles.

He wore baggy black shinobi pants that had loops down the sides where multiple scrolls of varying colors were holstered comfortably and remained within easy reach. The pants fell to mid-calf and were tapered off by white bandages that tucked into the tops of his white shinobi sandals. He wore his green chunin vest over the top of a sleeveless navy shirt.

The finishing piece of his wardrobe was a white, high collared jacket that was custom made—by his wife's order—and had the kanji for 'Wind' stitched into the left breast in navy thread. The only specifications that Naruto had actually made was that the jacket would be missing both sleeves, as they would be torn off whenever he used large scale Fuuton moves. Besides it also served to give his arms more freedom to move which aided in his tai and kenjutsu styles. The back of the unique jacket was hidden from view as the blond was presently laying on it.

Naruto's hitai-ate was no longer located on his forehead, instead it was used as a shoulder strap for his katana that was currently resting in it's sheath beside him. The absence of his headband allowed for his hair to fall freely down to his shoulders in all its spiky golden glory, his bangs reaching to his mid-eye level.

Naruto pulled his mind out of the clouds long enough to answer his friends query that may or may not have been rhetorical.

"Not really, it's not like I've ever beaten you anyway."

"Well there was that one time..." the man in black began, only to trail off as he saw the grin plastered across the Hokage's face.

"You cheated, didn't you." It wasn't a question and any doubt he had was erased when the evil blond Hokage's smile widened, "Dammit Naruto, I questioned myself for weeks wondering what I did wrong! Besides, how the hell could you have cheated? I have the board memorized at all times! It should be impossible."

"That's for me to know, and for you to think about," the Hokage answered as he stood up and dusted himself off.

Now that his back was showing one could see that more navy colored stitching covered the back of jacket, the kanji for 'Rokudaime Hokage' trailed proudly down his spine.

"Anyhow," he continued, obviously dodging any further questioning from his now rather flustered second in command, "I think that's enough slacking off today. Let's head back to the tower, I'm sure that the guards you posted are good and panicked by now."

The ANBU Commander turned his unreadable masked face to give what Naruto imagined was an exasperated look. "You didn't tell them you were leaving?"

"Nope, gave 'em the slip. It makes it more fun when I come back and they all are running around in mass pandemonium. See you at the tower Shikamaru!" The Hokage yelled as he scooped up his katana and made a running leap off the edge of the Hokage Monument.

The Rokudaime Hokage whooped in joy and attracted a few villagers' attention as he plummeted towards the very quickly approaching ground. Naruto smiled as he passed down the length of his father's stone face.

Making this jump had become something of a ritual for him—and a spectacle for any of the civilians or ninja that felt like watching—the adrenaline rush coupled with the wind howling in his ears was addicting to him while the watchers just enjoyed watching their leader risk his life and act like an idiot. But it wasn't just the adrenaline either. To the blond wind user this allowed him to become one with his element. To just let it embrace him like an old friend and surrender himself to its ever changing moods was so beautifully therapeutic.

He doubted that anyone but himself, and maybe Temari, would understand the simplistic need to be a part of the gentle currents that surrounded them everyday. He understood the wind on such a base level that to be a part of it was like satisfying the most carnal of desires and obtaining the perfect zen meditation at the same time. Sometimes, he would make this jump when he needed to relax, other times it helped him figure out complex problems that he was faced with, and other times when he just needed to have fun or get away he would always end up making this jump and allowing his mind to let go of every earthly desire and just be one with the air around him.

Deciding to have a little fun this time he started to gather chakra, subconsciously forcing it to become wind natured, and pushed it into the air directly beneath him, or rather in front of him since he was going headfirst.

If anyone was watching at that moment they would have noticed a slight cone shaped shimmer appear in front of him as his chakra forced the air passing him into a more aerodynamic shape. The crazy blond's smile had turned into a full blown toothy, face splitting, foxy grin as his downward velocity increased.

He whooped again, reveling in the speed and at home feeling he experienced while controlling the wind around him.

Once the ground was a little too close for comfort he flipped over in midair, concentrated and held his arms out, gathering more wind chakra in his hands and feet. At the very last second before he would kill himself upon impact he released all of his gathered chakra in a violent downward explosion. Gusts of wind spread out in a circle around him, kicking up dust and debris indiscriminately. When it all cleared a happy whisker marked man stood nonchalantly inside of a small crater that had already been there from past jumps.

After a few seconds passed Naruto could see a shadow from one of the nearby buildings ripple at the edge of his vision. He watched calmly as the shadow bubbled up from the ground and solidified into a person dressed in all black clothing and wearing a black mask.

"You're so slow Shika," Naruto complained, stepping out of his crater and approaching his closest friend.

"Sorry we all can't just jump off of cliff sides and expect to live, Naruto." the now identified Nara Shikamaru said sarcastically.

"And why is that?"

"Well if you were a little smarter you would already know it's because we all don't have enormous chakra reserves, unparalleled control of fuuton techniques, nor the perfect timing of reverse thrusting patterns intuitively known to a degree that we can get it perfectly every single time," Shikamaru taunted and complimented at the same time. He didn't really mean the little jab at Naruto's intelligence. Naruto was actually one of the few people with whom he could hold intelligent conversations without losing him in complex theory like most people. Of course the Nara genius didn't even know about the smart side of his closest friend until he had decided to stop acting like an idiot.

Oh, he had his suspicions ever since the academy, but never had enough evidence to actually call the Namikaze out on it.

"Thus why, some of us actually have to walk to get places instead of flying, and didn't I ask you to refer to me by my ANBU name when I'm in uniform?"

"I wasn't flying, I was falling with style," Naruto defended himself as he began walking to the front entrance of the Kage tower, Shikamaru falling in step with him. "but flying would be so cool if I could actually do it..." Naruto trailed off with a dreamy look on his face before getting a hold of himself and looking back at his friend. "And why would I call you by your codename, it's so unoriginal and doesn't really hide your identity when you think about it, does it_ Shadow_?"

"_You_ were the one who gave it to me Hokage-sama_,"_ the Nara shot back.

"Details Shika, details," Naruto waved off.

The Commander of all the ANBU forces in the village, as well as the hunter-nin and the remaining members of Danzo's root forces, could only sweatdrop at his friend's attitude.

They made their way to Naruto's office in a friendly silence. Shikamaru noticed that as they got closer and closer to the top floor that the Namikaze's smile was shrinking. Clearly Naruto was getting back into 'Hokage Mode' as Temari had termed it.

It saddened Shikamaru to think that the Naruto inside of the Hokage's office was so different from the Naruto whom he had just played a game of shogi with. Shikamaru had always known that the role of Hokage was a heavy burden, but to see it breaking the indomitable spirit that was once Uzumaki Naruto and turn it into the hardened Namikaze Naruto, the greatest Hokage Konoha had ever seen, was very sobering. Deciding to follow Naruto's example, the shadow user also fell into his own professional role as the second strongest shinobi in the village and only answerable to the Hokage.

Naruto approached the heavy wooden doors to his office, his face a stoic mask that didn't let out any emotion. The secretary saw him first, but barely spared him a glance before going back to her paperwork. Naruto disappeared and reappeared without explanation enough times that she didn't give it a second thought anymore.

The blond pushed the doors open and was immediately confronted by three panicky ANBU who started questioning him all at once.

Naruto was only able to interpret a few words of it all, "Where were you Hokage-sama?" or "What were you thinking Hokage-sama?" were some of the repeated ones. Naruto was actually hard pressed not to laugh at seeing the most elite of his village's shinobi forces acting like a bunch of mother hens.

"Enough," Shikamaru said in almost a whisper but the ANBU were easily able recognize their commanders voice. They all shut up instantly while snapping their arms to their sides, smashing their heels together and jutting their chins up in the air.

Naruto smirked and crossed his arms, terribly amused at the sight of three motionless ANBU standing to attention as their Commander paced in front of them.

_'Have to admit that Shika's got some style. I'd probably be scared myself if he was my ranking officer, specially with the whole black and evil look he's got going.'_ Naruto thought as the Nara stopped his pacing and addressed his troops.

"You all need not be ashamed of your failure to keep track of Hokage-sama. I understand that he has a mind of his own and enjoys sneaking out from under your noses. However," he amended, "this failure cannot go unpunished. You all will be going through remedial Track and Capture training."

To a normal civilian it would appear that the ANBU did not even register what was just told to them, but the Kage in the room could see all three of the ANBU troops give a groan of despair through their body language, the slightest hunching of their shoulders, the drop of a chin, and a twitch in the foot of the ANBU on the far left.

"You will all report to headquarters active immediately, I will take on the Hokage's security detail myself. Dismissed." And with that all three of the disgruntled bodyguards shunshined away.

"You didn't have to go that hard on them Shadow-san. It_ was_ me that they were trying to watch after all." Naruto told his friend as he made his way to his desk chair.

"You are too kind Hokage-sama, but the fact is that they failed in their assignment and must be punished no matter the circumstances. Besides," Shikamaru said, reaching up and removing his mask now that they were alone and inside, showing Naruto the smiling face underneath, "I've been meaning to have those specific recruits punished ever since they bleached all of my clothes and made me walk around in white all day."

"Ha, that was great, you were blinding civilians as you walked down the street." Naruto laughed but trailed off when he realized something. "You planned this whole thing didn't you? You planned for me to escape them just so that you could send them back there." The blond shook his head at Shikamaru's foresight. "Anyone told you that you're a genius lately?"

"Me, a genius?" Shikamaru held a gloved hand to his chest in mock shock, "Is that what my wife calls me every time she wins one of our arguments?"

Naruto laughed as he sat down in his chair, letting out a sigh of contentment at the softness of his cushions. One of the perks of being Hokage was the chair, it was just so damn comfy. The very first time he sat in it he realized why Tsunade preferred sitting on her ass all day and just drinking sake.

"Speaking of your wife, how is Ino-chan? I haven't had time to check in lately and Temari doesn't like to divulge the details of their little 'girl' talks, which seem to be happening more and more now that I think about it."

"Well I really don't care what those 'girl' talks are about since they would probably end up mentally scaring either one of us if we knew. But I'm sure that I know at least one topic of conversation...

"Which is?" Naruto prompted.

"Well, I guess there's really no easy way to tell you this Naruto, but Ino and I are thinking about separating."

"What!?"

Shikamaru and Ino had gotten married not too long after their eighteenth birthdays. It was inevitable really. They had been the only other survivors, besides Naruto and Kurenai, of the Pein attack and since they had been on the same team initially, it was only common sense that they stuck together after that. Naruto didn't know when they had first developed feelings for each other but he was one of the first people that Shikamaru told about their relationship since they were already developing a close friendship themselves.

And now, three years since their marriage, Shikamaru had risen to the post of ANBU Commander and Ino had become the leading mind-healer throughout the entire shinobi nations. What most didn't know was that Ino was also called in to perform the hardest interrogations in the T&amp;I department since she had the ability to mind walk, something that hadn't been seen in the Yamanaka Clan in generations.

Sure, Naruto knew that they were having problems but this was the first he had heard about anything this serious. Having grown up with no family at all, seeing two people that he cared about starting to fall apart was almost sacrilegious in his book.

"Are you guys sure about this. I mean, you can't work it out? Maybe I can help?"

"No, that's alright Naruto. I think it will be better this way. There just isn't anything there anymore. The only reason we really got together was out of some sort of unspoken obligation since we were the only ones left after Pein's attack."

"Seriously? That's it? Come on Shika, there's gotta be another way-"

He didn't get any further due to a knock at the door attracting their attention. Within a second Shikamaru had his mask back on and was blending into the shadows, disappearing from view soon after. The blond shot the wall where he knew his friend was a dirty look, making sure that he knew they were still going to talk, before he turned back to his desk.

"Enter." Naruto said, shuffling some papers on his desk to give the illusion that he had been working and not just hearing about his friends relationship problems.

His secretary entered with a clipboard in hand.

"Hokage-sama, the council has requested an emergency meeting and are now convening in the council chambers. They have asked me to inform you that they are expecting you to be present within the next five minutes."

"Thank you, please let them know I will be along shortly."

The young woman nodded politely and left the room. When the door finished closing behind her a shadow seemed to detach itself from the wall and materialize into Shikamaru.

Naruto tried to resume his questioning, "Look Shika, maybe-"

"Naruto." Shikamaru cut his friend off, "This is a conversation for another time, you have a meeting to get to after all."

"Fine, but don't think your off the hook."

Shikamaru nodded. "Any ideas on what this 'emergency' meeting will be about? Wait," Shikamaru halted abrubtly, "you don't think they know about tomorrow do you?" he asked.

"That would be my guess as well but you can never know when you're dealing with the council." Naruto supplied. "Damn, I just sat down too," he whined.

"Stop complaining you baby, I'm sure the chairs in the council chamber are just as soft." Shikamaru said, gesturing his Hokage through the door.

"Doubtful."

**o0xKWx0o**

The Council was nothing like it once was. With the deaths of the majority of the ninja half of the legislative body, the civilians had moved in and taken over.

The plus side of having an all civilian Council was that—after Naruto had become the most powerful icon in Konohagakure—they weren't able to question his rule. On the down side, they didn't understand any ninja politics or ways of life, making it a very difficult process to convince them to change certain aspects of shinobi law.

Naruto was now sitting in the three-tiered, ovular shaped room where the Council met. He was positioned on the highest tier and where everyone was able to see him without any difficulty.

He decided to get the meeting over with quickly since the chairs here were certainly not as comfortable as the one back in his office.

"So why the emergency meeting guys? It's not everyday that I get to see all of your lovely faces." he said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at his own sarcasm.

"Hokage-sama," a middle aged civilian councilman with short cropped brown hair began as he stood up. "This body has convened today in order to ask for an explanation regarding recent, secretive actions that you have taken outside of the public eye. A few examples being the placement of a safe-house in the forest behind the Hokage Monument, the notice you sent out today stating that you will be gone for an entire twenty four hours effective at midnight tonight, and that you have also taken precautions in securing a successor to your position."

As soon as the man finished with his statement, the rest of the Council broke out into harsh whispers and started to send Naruto suspicious glances.

Naruto was speechless. He had kept that information strictly confidential. The only ones who actually knew anything about it were Temari and Shikamaru and he knew that neither would ever betray him.

"Hokage-sama?" the man asked, obviously waiting for his response.

Naruto's mind was racing._ 'If Shikamaru and Temari didn't tell him, then the only possible way for him to have found out is with some careful spying and investigation.'_ His eyes narrowed so slightly that it went unnoticed by anyone in the room at the time.

"What's your name councilman?" was the blonde Kage's initial reply.

"My name is Kenchi, Hokage-sama. However, I believe that my name is unimportant as of right now. I think I speak for the entire Council when I say that we would like to hear your explanation now."

The words of Kenchi were met with nods from the majority of those present. They all looked to the Hokage expectantly.

"Well, I'm afraid you're mistaken,_ Kenchi_, about me placing a safe house behind the monument. The house is actually the mansion that my father, Namikaze Minato, lived in when he became Hokage. He left it to me when he died but I've only just started living there."_ 'Not that I wouldn't have moved in sooner if I could have gotten past all of the damn security seals. My old man was a genius but couldn't he have made it a_ little_ easier for family to get in?'_

"And the day off you requested?"

"I can't just have a day off once and a while?"

"Hokage-sama, while we all respect you and what you've done for this village when it was at its weakest, there has not been a day when a Hokage took off in the history of Konoha. I believe we deserve an explanation before we approve it."

Well shit. That was a good reason. Who knew the Hokages were such workaholics. Not Naruto, that's for sure, especially when he could go off and do whatever he wanted since his clones usually did all of his paperwork. Still, even if it was a good reason for him to explain himself, this Kenchi bastard didn't have to seem so smug about it. It was seriously getting on his nerves. Where did this son of a bitch even come from? He couldn't remember ever seeing him before.

_'The other council members probably picked him up since he clearly doesn't like me that much.'_

Honestly, the civilian council would pick up anyone with a grudge against him. Naruto supposed that the ones who didn't like him had to stick together since Kami knew that after he saved the village that the majority of the civilians worshiped him as the second coming of his father.

"I really don't think one day off constitutes a full on investigation of my life, councilman," Naruto tried to deflect.

"On the contrary Hokage-sama, you are a servant to the people of this village, it is our right to know where you are at all times." There was that smug smirk again. It made the blonde want to jump up and punch the guy's lights out. He settled for clenching his jaw instead.

"I am hardly a servant to the people, Kenchi-san. I am the ruler of the strongest military village on this continent and I don't have to sit here and take back talk from some weak civilian councilman who thinks he's the daimyo," Naruto ground out.

"Well then, if you are the ruler of the greatest military power shouldn't you be accounted for at all times in case of emergency? I will make this request of information into a movement if I need to Hokage-sama, after all, I will do anything for the safety of this village." He smiled sweetly to the rest of the council and many of them looked back at him adoringly.

Naruto could see that if Kenchi_ did_ move for a release of information that he would easily have enough support among the civilian side of the council to pass the motion and make him look like he was deliberately trying to hide something.

Stupid spies and their damned silver-tongues.

Fuck. Naruto hadn't wanted to release this information to the general public until later tonight, just before the event started, so that they wouldn't be allowed to develop hair-brained hypotheses which would most likely have devolved into fear and resentment of him. But... if they wanted to know about what was happening and plunge the populace of Konoha into a panic...

"Fine, but get ready for a long story that will probably fly over all of your heads," Naruto said with a heavy sigh._ 'Huh, I've been sighing more and more these days.'_

"Approximately one year ago on the day of my twenty-first birthday I discovered that my soul is slowly integrating the Kyuubi into itself due to unforeseen effects of the Shiki Fuin. I have requested off tomorrow so that I may remove the problem." Naruto finished to gasps of shock and looks of fear from many of those present. Naruto almost laughed as he thought of the difference between the reactions of the council and the reactions of his friends when they learned about the seal on his stomach.

_(Flashback start)_

_(__**A/N:**__ The Council is also learning about the parts of the seal but not the actual conversation that follows. I just figured this was a better way to tell this part of the story)_

A visibly heated Temari sat on the other side of the table from Naruto and Shikamaru, "What do you mean the Kyuubi is being absorbed into your soul? How the hell is that even possible?"

Naruto looked around the crowded restaurant to see if anyone was listening to them while he addressed his girlfriend, "Quiet, Tema-chan, we don't want the whole village to know. This is supposed to be a secret after all."

"Don't you 'Tema-chan' me Naruto, I deserve to know when my boyfriend is about to die from being fused with a vengeful fox demon."

"Look Temari, it's not like that. When my dad looked at the Shiki Fuin passed down through the Forbidden Scroll of Seals he knew that it was flawed, the one that he used on me is actually his own modified version of the seal, and from what I can tell it's the most complicated sealing jutsu in the world."

Shikamaru butted in on their conversation, "I'm guessing that you're going to explain it all to us since I'm assuming that bringing us to a restaurant filled with people just to tell us that you're having soul sex with the Kyuubi was not you're only purpose."

"Fuck you Shika, thank you for that amazing mental image. And just so you know, the Kyuubi has just put you on the top of it's 'to eat' list."

Shikamaru made a show of taking a slow bite of his meal, "I'm so scared."

Naruto's eye twitched in irritation, "You just love to make it mad and give me headaches don't you."

Shikamaru swallowed and gave Naruto his best lazy deadpan, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Naruto deadpanned right back. "I'm sure you don't."

"Boy's!" Temari interrupted their byplay, "While normally I would be fine with you're incessant verbal banter, I would like to hear more about the problem at hand. Specifically the fact that my_ boyfriend_ might die!"

Naruto shot Shikamaru a glare that promised they would continue later, "Temari, I already told you that I'm not going to die... at least not right now," Naruto added under his breath.

Apparently he wasn't quiet enough since Temari shot him a paralyzing death glare. "Explain," was all she ground out in a voice full of death as she fingered the large battle fan that was leaning against the table.

Naruto eyed the fan warily and decided it would be in his best interest if he started explaining. Thinking quickly he pulled out a silencing seal and stuck it to the table, placing one finger on it and channeling enough chakra to activate it. "There, now no one will hear us." The blonde sealing master then pulled out a piece of paper and a calligraphy brush and placed it in front of him.

"What's with the brush?"

"It's too complicated to explain with just words so I'm going to be drawing visuals as well."

"Tch, I think I'm smart enough to understand without your horrible drawings confusing everyone."

"Shut it Shika, it's not for you. It's for me since I can't explain it without drawing it. I'll get lost otherwise." Naruto shot a withering look at the Nara before he looked down and started to draw, his hand moving the brush deftly over the paper, leaving complicated patterns in its wake.

No matter how many times he saw it displayed, Shikamaru Nara was amazed at his best friends improvement over that last four years. He remembered how Naruto had gone on a three year training trip with Jiraiya and come back with hardly any improvement in his skills. Thus, he was amazed when within a year of Naruto's return from said trip that the blond had added elemental manipulation to the already A-Rank Rasengan and made it into the S-Ranked Fuuton:Rasenshuriken, learned the toad's Sage Mode, and beat three Akatsuki members on his own. Not to mention what he had done in the three years following that! Completely mastering wind natured chakra manipulations and becoming a certified master of Fuuton jutsu, developing his own taijutsu style from his father's notes, and then becoming a Fuin Master on par with the Yondaime Hokage...and then he went and became the Rokudaime Hokage just a few months ago. It made him wonder just what exactly Jiraiya had been doing with him for the three years they were gone. The pineapple haired man shivered whenever he though about what Naruto would have turned out to be if he had actually gotten something done during his trip with the toad sage.

And even though he was amazed by the new Hokage's accomplishments, he was not surprised when Naruto held up the finished product of his drawing, revealing a perfect replica of the seal that was on his navel.

"This, is the finished seal that my dad came up with to hold the Kyuubi back." Naruto said, gesturing at the paper held in his hand.

"That still doesn't explain how Kyuubi is merging with your soul Naruto-kun."

"I'm getting there Temari-chan." Naruto put down the paper in the middle of the table where both members of his audience had a clear view of it. The sealing master then proceeded to circle five different parts of the Shiki Fuin that he had just made. "Alright guys, this is where things will get a little more complicated. Basically, my dad combined the power of the Shiki Fuin with four other kinds of seals. The main part of the new seal is, of course, the Shiki Fuin itself which is what holds the Kyuubi in its prison." Naruto said while pointing out the largest portion of the seal he had drawn. "The other parts that my father added, that I actually know just by looking, are a chakra purification seal, and a chakra siphon seal." Naruto pointed to two other parts that he circled.

"So what are the parts that you didn't recognize?" Shikamaru asked while he studied the seal intently.

"I can only assume that my father created them himself because I've never seen anything like them before in all of my studying, but I think that I figured both of them out through reverse engineering their individual line patterns and connection matrices. Guys, my dad was a fucking genius that I don't think I will ever be able to surpass when it comes to sealing, because if I'm right in what I think these seals do then he created something that is supposed to be impossible. Seriously, take my word for it, this is me, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, saying that something should be impossible."

"Okay Naruto, we get it, you can turn your ego off now." Temari shot at Naruto playfully. "So what do you think these other two seals do then?"

Shikamaru decided to give his own guess as to what they do. "Well since he already told us that he was going through a soul merge with the Kyuubi, I think it's safe to say that one of those must perform some sort of fusion between the jailor and the jailed."

Naruto nodded and pointed to one of the circles that he hadn't pointed out yet. "You're right, this one, from my best guess, is a dominant-soul incorporation seal that fuses two souls together when they are in the same body. The dominant soul should retain all of their personality traits and thoughts but I think that the shared physical body might change a little bit so that both souls reach some sort of symbiosis and will be at peace when the submissive soul is absorbed." Naruto explained for Temari's benefit since Shikamaru had already figured it out.

Shikamaru voiced his opinion on the last unidentified seal. "My guess on this one is a little less positive than the last one, but the remaining seal looks like a smaller version of the Shiki Fuin. So my guess is that is is some sort of secondary prison seal."

"Close Shika but not quite. This seal should function as a fail-safe. If the Kyuubi were ever to escape from my body and I'm somehow still alive this seal should activate and pull the big furball back into the main Shiki Fuin." Naruto noticed that the food he had ordered before had finally arrived. Quickly rolling up the replica he had drawn and stuffing it into his jacket, he deactivated his silencing seal and waited politely for his ramen. Him and his friends ate in silence for a little while before Temari asked one last question.

"When will you absorb him completely?"

Naruto paused mid-bite. He gently set down his chopsticks and stared sadly into the steaming broth. "It was supposed to happen a few months ago on my twenty-first birthday since that was when the Kyuubi started to run out of chakra because of the chakra siphon that has been running since it was sealed at my birth. Thankfully, I was able to stall the process..."

"When?" Temari repeated.

"Exactly one year... on my twenty-_second_ birthday."

_(End Flashback)_

The Rokudaime finished his speech to the council and noted that almost every one of them had looks of confusion on their faces due to the explanation of his seal being a little too complicated for them. There was one thing that unnerved him though.

The manic gleam in Kenchi's eyes and the look of someone that got what they wanted was entirely out of place on a civilian councilman's face.

Naruto didn't get much more time to contemplate as Kenchi spoke up. "Thank you for telling us the reason you requested for a leave of absence Hokage-sama. I believe that I speak for the entire council when I say that we would be happy to grant you whatever time that you need to remedy this problem."

After that the council seemed to wrap up the meeting a little faster than they usually would have._ 'They're all probably scared about tomorrow already. I'm sure that the secret will be all over the village by sundown.'_

Naruto left the council chambers with Kenchi's smile still on his mind, and made a mental note to keep an eye on the silver-tongued stranger.

o0xKWx0o

Mongoose was not a very happy ANBU, not only did the Hokage land him in remedial training because he slipped out from under his nose, but now he gets assigned to watch some lazy councilman who's average day was so boring that Mongoose just wanted to rage at his superiors for wasting his skills like this. But there was also the fact that he was an ANBU, and that due to his position as an elite he wasn't allowed to complain, only follow orders.

So follow orders he did. Without question. Which is now why he was sitting on a roof in the middle of the night watching the outside of a plain house in the lower-middle class district of the citizen's housing areas. The man he was assigned to watch was a man named Kenchi, some no name councilman who had apparently caught the Hokage's eye today during a meeting. Originally he had treated this man as a possible threat and kept a close eye on him while taking extra care to make sure that he was not seen while he followed the man all across town as he performed his mundane tasks.

So mundane, that eventually Mongoose became bored of watching this man, coming to the conclusion that he really was what everyone thought he was; just some normal citizen who had a spot on the council. There was nothing out of the ordinary to indicate otherwise. Kenchi had no chakra coming from him, no specific movement that gave away any sort of martial arts training, and no out of the ordinary contact with another person.

So it was with great surprise that he felt a blade pierce his back, and an even greater surprise when he saw the blood coated tip of a wakizashi protruding from the center of his chest.

"You know ANBU-san, your not really elite material are you? Just because a person doesn't show any signs of being a shinobi doesn't mean that they are not. It's always safe to err on the side of caution than to let down your guard in their presence. But it was your misfortune that you were assigned to watch me of all people. After all, I am the best spy in the elemental nations. Even better than Jiraiya in his prime." The voice of Kenchi floated condescendinly out from behind him and he could tell that the sick bastard was enjoying every second of his gloating.

With a grunt Mongoose pulled himself from the blade and whirled around preparing for his final stand. His stab wound was bleeding profusely and he knew that there was no way he would survive this, but he would be damned if he wasn't going to put up a little bit of a fight.

Unfortunately for him, Kenchi wasn't going to take any chances of himself being discovered.

With an almost inhuman grace the spy master danced within the masked man's guard and delivered a debilitating blow to the man's solar plexus, sending him flying backwards.

Mongoose was already dead when his body hit the ground and proceeded to roll all the way to the front door of the house he had been previously watching.

"Huh, didn't really put up much of a fight did he?" Kenchi mumbled to himself. "Suppose it was also his misfortune that he didn't know I'm master of Southpaw taijutsu. Oh well, time to hide the body and report back to Leader-sama." As Kenchi picked up the body he allowed the genjutsu coating his skin to fall. Revealing himself to be a younger dark-skinned man with a slashed Kumo headband and not the middle aged councilman that he had appeared to be.

**o0xKWx0o**

A few hours away from Konoha, a man in a black cloak with red clouds stood at a cave entrance overlooking the forest of Fire Country. The man's face was unreadable, his mouth set in a firm line, and his onyx eyes betraying no emotion. His black hair framed his face as it shifted slightly in the calm breeze. Glancing up at the moon the corners of his mouth moved downwards into the barest hint of a frown.

"You're late Kenchi."

"My apologies Leader-sama, I had to take care of a few loose ends before I was allowed to make my escape."

"Hn." The apparent leader of Akatsuki looked down upon the kneeling form of his subordinate, who had just jumped from the trees to land in front of him. "Report."

"You're plan should succeed, Leader-sama. The Hokage will be incapacitated nearly all day tomorrow as he deals with complications that have come forth due to the seal that holds back his beast."

"And you are sure of this?"

"I heard this information from his own mouth, Leader-sama."

"What complications did he speak of?" Clearly this leader was a man of few words.

"Unfortunately, Leader-sama, my knowledge of Fuinjutsu is rather limited and much of his explanation I was not able to understand. From what I did understand, I realize that he will be taking all day tomorrow in order for his seal to calm his demon to the point that he can reach a perfect synchronization with it. His body will then change to the point where the Kyuubi will be able to live happily inside of it." Kenchi did his best to relay his knowledge of what the Hokage had tried to explain during their meeting. The only problem was that the Hokage was a master of Fuinjutsu and he had been trying to explain some of the most complicated sealing arrays to a bunch of stuck up civilians. Kenchi could tell that the Hokage had tried simplifying his theories to a point where the non-shinobi could understand, but he could also tell that much of what was actually happening with the seal was lost in the translation. What he had just told his superior was his best guess on what the Hokage was trying to explain.

"Hn. Good work Kenchi. Our plans will proceed without incident then. You're dismissed." Kenchi quickly left the area, glad to be out of the presence of his employer. He had never really liked the man, but he had the money. And all spies and double-agents can be bought by the highest bidder.

When he was sure that his spy had left the area the mysterious man turned and made his way back into the cave. After a minute or so of walking he came upon a stone doorway that led to a larger cavern. As he entered the cavern a small fire came into view with nine other people in matching cloaks to his surrounding it.

One cloaked individual with pink hair stood and made her way closer to the leader.

"Sasuke-kun, what are our orders?" She said sweetly while fluttering her eyes at her handsome leader.

"We will proceed as planned. Sakura, go tell the Tsuchikage to prepare his troops for assault at midday tomorrow." The man said, throwing aside his cloak as he approached the fire and revealing himself as Uchiha Sasuke, traitor of Konohagakure no Sato, Leader of Akatsuki, and former friend turned arch enemy of one Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto.

His eyes flashed as he sat down, the firelight playing across his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan and casting them into stark contrast with the rest of his face.

"Tomorrow," his voice echoed ominously in the large stone cavern, "Tomorrow we seal the last Bijuu, and start the journey to our true goal."

**o0xKWx0o**

A/N: Sup everyone. I'm just gonna see where this one goes. Updates will be pretty spread out as I try to finish old works.

Review and change my mind ;)  
-Scarlet


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